


kitty-cornered

by brandywine421



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Friendship, Gen, Identity Issues, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: Dick Grayson didn't think much about intermittent bridges to surreal, sometimes imaginary, cities and boroughs that didn't show up on maps, depending on which side you were on at the time.He tried not to think too hard about it, considering - well - Gotham City - and made a point to take the exit when he saw it on the highway or the train.  Hell, he'd ended up there from a subway in Coast City and he was generally sure it was a different side of the country.It was his favorite vacation destination, an urban paradise where Nightwing could stalk the streets and chase the Devil of Hell's Kitchen like the moon - no wolves, no Bats and no strings.Shapeshifting AU
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Matt Murdock, Dick Grayson & Matt Murdock, Dick Grayson/Matt Murdock, Selina Kyle & Matt Murdock
Comments: 20
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

Dick Grayson didn't think much about intermittent bridges to surreal, sometimes imaginary, cities and boroughs that didn't show up on maps, depending on which side you were on at the time.

He tried not to think too hard about it, considering - well - Gotham City - and made a point to take the exit when he saw it on the highway or the train. Hell, he'd ended up there from a subway in Coast City and he was generally sure it was a different side of the country.

It was his favorite vacation destination, an urban paradise where Nightwing could stalk the streets and chase the Devil of Hell's Kitchen like the moon - no wolves, no Bats and no strings.

It had been years, before the name change, that he got to be a generic vigilante and not a superhero and Daredevil was a worthy partner - and playmate. They could take out the night's vandals and scandals together in Kevlar and masks (and spend the rest of the evening as Matt and Dick on their backs with snacks). 

Matt didn't leave his territory often and despite his skill, didn't know anything about Wolf shifters considering the domesticity of Hell's Kitchen's populace; but Daredevil snatched his cape - all out in public like a chump - and spent a few weekends in Bludhaven making his bed and somehow scaring all the pigeons away in a three block radius - like a champ. Knowing each other's secret identity was one thing but - Dick didn't want to think too hard about it.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

There was Elektra. There was Elektra, on fire and blasting heat and flame and sound. There was Elektra, burning, screaming, and falling - falling for the last time in her fiery storm - falling until it was forever - falling burning noise -

* * *

"What's this?" Selina leaned down to get a closer look at the matted pile of fur Sir Gregor was guarding between the gargoyles. "Don't take that tone with me, Old Man," she scolded the grumpy orange cat when he puffed his tail at her.

She knew all the cats in Gotham, or could sniff out their pedigree if she bothered shifting with the moon. But she didn't know this one.

Sir Gregor licked at his new friend's black fur and she spotted a shimmering silver collar hidden in the fluff. She could tell he was hurt, letting a strange stray clean the blood was no way to make friends in Gotham. Silver chain meant his owner must have money, and cruelty to animals meant she deserved their money for penance.

"Can I take him inside, you can come, too, you still have a bed and a hoard full of kittens."

"Miaow," Sir Gregor agreed and she rolled her eyes, lifting the cat to her chest. The cat lived, breathed, but when he opened his eyes, they were milky dull without sight.

"Let's get you somewhere warmer, Kitten."

The collar could wait.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

  
New Cat was well enough to fight back and eat semi-solid food by the third day and Selina had put off checking the tag long enough.

He was a beautiful creature with sleek black fur and attentive ears, always seeking her voice and the sounds outside of his recovery pallet of towels.

She placated him with a morsel of chicken and smoothed her fingers over the collar as if petting him normally.

He didn't hiss but she could tell he wasn't fooled. He went still and she took the permission. "It's not stretchy, what if you get fat?" She realized there was no latch, no clasp to release if he got caught in a fence or a trap.

She crouched down to read the tag since she couldn't remove the damned silver. Shiny with intricate letters - no name but an address she was intimately familiar with.

Trap. It had to be a trap - but Catwoman's, well, affection, for the Bat and his Pack was well known in Gotham and hurting an animal was too far.

But what if it wasn't a trap - what if it was a failsafe, a cruel trap to turn Bruce or one of his pups into a delicate Kitten Snack in a world of Wolves?  
  


* * *

  
One of the Robins, Bruce didn't care if she couldn't keep up anymore, blinked at her.

She blinked back. "Hello. Tim."

He nodded and she relaxed, pleased she got one right. He lowered his gaze to her chest - well, the bundle of New Cat - Bruce raised his boys to be respectful at least. "Would Alfred invite you inside with a cat?"

"Yes. Of course," she lied. Bruce would so it wasn't quite a lie. Well. He wouldn't kick her out if she was already inside. "It's about the cat."

"Sure."  
  


* * *


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

  
Wolves. Not shifters, not dogs - Wolves. Catwoman, the mythical heroine that his dad always told stories about once he learned his shift - was a Wolf. Not a dog or a cat - of course not because - Wolves.

But Selina had given him time to heal, space to listen and figure out that he wasn't in Hell's Kitchen or Kansas or Oz. Gotham City - like that wasn't a made up place in a made up world.

Would purgatory be a den of actual Wolves or was this - 

"The collar's not silver, it's something else, but the tag looks like one of ours. But it's a cat." Matt flicked his tail, making sure to knock off another piece of paper on the desk where he'd been placed on display.

Tim seemed stuck on the cat thing just like Matt was stuck on the Wolf thing. Matt was more interested in the silent girl, no Wolf, they were all wolves, looming in the shadows. She was very still and he made sure to keep an ear tuned into her.

"Where is Bruce? Or Alfred for that matter?"

"Oh. Alfred's shopping and Bruce is on his way. You used his code for the gate." Tim returned his attention to Matt. "How about this? One mew for yes, two for no. Are you under a spell?"

"Mew. Mao. Mew." Fuck. You. If he knew that then - well, it would mean he knew *something*,

Tim tapped his pen against the painfully blank notepad. "Is that a maybe?"

The wolf in the shadow moved and Matt followed, careful not to fuzz out until he gauged her threat level.

A mistake.

The girl clutched the scruff of his neck and shook him forcefully and he barely held in his claws - scratching her wouldn't earn his freedom if she was about to fling him.

"No cat. Spy." She slipped thin fingers under the collar and released his fur, choking him for a blissful moment as she found the secret latch and snapped the magical release. Motherfucking Freedom -

Time for claws - scratch for traction and defense, kicking off what he hoped was her chin to back spin toward the fresh air, retracting the claws for silence on the slick floors and darting between the scrambling boots and socks - out out out - 

"Cass, what the hell - "

"Not cat - Spy!"

Some Catwoman - took him right into a pack of wolves, probably an offering - fuck shit goddamn - out out out - fresh air was down and he sensed the slight opening, no, closing - and slipped past a new set of boots to a stairwell.

"Is that - "

"Don't let him get - Bruce, catch him!" 

Fuck all of these dogs - he was faster than anyone who wore boots that expensive - the stairs opened up into a cave brimming with life - bats - wait, Bats?

Fuck bats - Matt went toward the fresh air and fresh water - running water and running water always had an exit - 

He learned a lot of things from Stick and his father and his friends - but there was a physical therapist in Queens that he needed to send a thank you note for teaching a blind kitten how to swim.  
  


* * *


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

  
He sniffed out a building that didn't have any human inhabitants, but lots of shadows and soft places. Everything smelled awful, like decay and rot - Hell's Kitchen x 1000 with traces of strange chemicals and explosive residue from battles he couldn't imagine. His cat nose wasn't as sensitive as his human one, but this city was not normal. 

He needed a plan, but for now, betrayed, wet, lost and wet - he needed to rest and figure out how to hide from the persistent pack of mutts that Selina had put on his tail.

Two days, if he could trust the lax warmth of what sun made it into the decrepit building, and a single meal from someone's tossed burger; and he was no closer to a way home than Sir Gregor's nest.

Two days, and the girl - Cass - perched on the floor above his nest - muscles taut and ready to pounce.

He tried to remember Stick's training - but that made him remember what Elektra had done to Stick - and Elektra and - he had to stay still as stone or trigger the Wolf.

He was so busy being frozen and silent, he didn't process that she wasn't hunting - she was being hunted - until it was way too late to run.  
  


* * *

  
He stayed in shift until he was sure the girl was over her head. She had impressive fighting skills but there were more heartbeats flooding the building and she was bleeding and not answering the chattering comm. If he could hear it, she should be able to hear it - and answer it.

So he decided to make another mistake because, hell, she was just a kid and he wasn't just a cat and Daredevil wasn't afraid of the big bad Wolf.

He was trained for this and for once - hopefully the only time - he would be able to use his full skillset. Kitten-quiet footsteps to go high and leap - landing on the back of the biggest thug and shifting into Matt before he could react, drop and flip - swinging his weight to take out another man and - shift - Cat - darting between boots - a swing kick snapped him back to Matt so he could grab the knee and take down another two men and throw a punch - Cat - two paws claw at eyelids and jump - 

The last of the men fell and Matt expanded his senses to check for any stragglers, lost in the adrenaline of the fight, and forgetting for the wrong moment that the girl was after him before she was attacked.

He didn't sense the trajectory of the tranq, only the prick when it hit his neck.

It was a mistake he couldn't afford to make, not when he'd gone over his quota already. He plucked the dart and shifted in the same movement, accepting that the drug might kill him in his Cat form but remembering the core rule for all shifters. Never let them catch you alive.

"No! Please!"

Window - ledge - freefall - he could do this in his sleep - four paws to the pavement, balls to the wall - scatter like the world's on fire - 

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

She waited for Bruce's disappointed grunt, or an empathetic lecture from Dick - or maybe another hissing insult from Selina. She didn't know how to react unless - 

"A cat shifter with combat skills in Gotham and you don't know about it?" Selina hmphed at Bruce, disappointed. Cass would never understand their relationship but - wasn't she angry that Cass had hurt her cat-friend? Again?

"Blind." Dick knew something, she could sense his sudden shift, the light bulb moment. "Blind superhero not local," he parsed aloud.

"No. Just Man," Cassie said. She knew he was just a man, a street-savvy stray - like her if she was a cat. "No hero. Man."

"Well, he'd agree with you on that." Dick turned to the computer, Bruce watching him with a new, unfamiliar expression.

"You said you didn't know him."

"Black shifter cat, do not know," he shrugged. "Blind martial arts ass-kicker? I know."

The monitors lit up with images of a man in red armor, spiked horns and ballet-light footsteps - a man in black, roped fists and an snarl of bloody teeth - a man in bed, soft smile and wide unseeing eyes - 

"Daredevil? You never told - " 

Dick glared at Bruce, taking his words. "Because I liked the bastard too much to let you anywhere near him. His identity is just as necessary for what he does as yours. I knew he wasn't a wolf, his 'verse has every kind of shifter except wolf - they have dogs, sure, but not wolves."

"He's from an alternate universe?" Tim perked up with interest.

"The window closed a couple of years ago, you know how the Flash is always fucking with mirror 'verses."

Bruce cleared his throat. Warning. "How did you meet?"

Dick's glare faltered. "I tracked someone to his turf and he chased me all over New York until I told him what I after. Once he was sure I was on the right side, he took me to the base of operations, backed all my plays and let me take the meta back to the right 'verse. We - hung out sometimes. He's a - "

"Friend," Cass whispered.

"Yeah, and ally."

She shivered. "Sorry."

Tim rapped his knuckles on the desk. "Not your fault, Kid, you followed protocol. We didn't know he would be immune to a tranq or - "

"He's not immune," Dick cut in. "And a wolf dose might kill a cat his size but - Tim's right. You tried to bring him in safely. You didn't know he was a paranoid vigilante with insurmountable trust issues."

"Wait, are you talking about Bruce or the cat?"

"Thank you, Tim, do you have anything useful to add?" Bruce had that wrinkle between his eyebrows. Annoyed. Aw.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

  
"Mew. Miaw. Mew."

Shit. He appreciated the local cats trying to be helpful but they trusted this Catwoman entirely too much and he was - entirely too disoriented to do anything about it. Sir Gregor needed to stay in his damned lane.

"That bastard Bat - darting you like a dog. Poor thing," Selina cooed, bundling him in thick soft fabric and touching all of his fur and soft places without permission.

He tried to hiss, tried to claw but he was defeated by the cushion of cloth and her clingy fingers.

"Figured out who you are, Kitten. Nightwing finally used that pretty head for something."

Nightwing? Dick? But this wasn't Bludhaven, he'd been to Bludhaven - 

Selina's laugh was like tingling bells but he was going to blame that on the dart. "Secret identities are tricky like that, not to add wolves and cats to the equation. You don't fight crime in shift?"

"Meow." Never.

She stroked the fur between his flattened ears. "I'm going to run a hot bath and lock you in the bathroom. The drug will flush your system faster if you're a man. When you're steadier, you can tell me if you want me to call Nightwing or set you up a soft bed with the cats."  
  


* * *


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

  
"Bruce and Tim want to listen in, I trust them."

"And the girl?" Matt frowned, tilting his head slightly to the side and directing his voice to the hallway. "She's not scared of me, she knows things she shouldn't. I don't trust her since she's tried to kill me twice."

Tim whistled. "That, kind of, happens sometimes. It's not personal."

Fair enough. "Okay." 

"What's the last thing you remember before you woke up here?" Dick asked in a low, soothing voice that set off all his warnings.

He didn't think he flinched but the girl noticed. Well shit. "Is she blind?"

"She doesn't talk much, if you'd rather she leave - " Bruce spoke up too quickly and he winced as he pinged his error.

That made too much sense and he bowed his head in apology, patting his chest. "I think she 'sees' like me, but with working eyes. Only takes four senses to make a soldier."

She nodded sharply, a surprised double beat of her tightly controlled pulse as she mimicked his chest pat.

Dick squeezed his knee. "Are you seriously deflecting my questions? You look like shit, Matt. Talk to me."

"I - remember falling." God.

"Through a portal, or were you fighting a wizard - " 

"Tim," Dick hushed his brother.

"They brought her back. Elektra." He put his hand to his chest but didn't pat.

"She died, Matt."

"Still dead - but - it was her." He took a breath - focus - breathe. "Doesn't matter, just - we had to bring a building down, evacuated the area and - I couldn't - I didn't get out in time. Boom - blew out my ears and - I was falling."

Dick took both his hands, snapping the memory from his mouth. "You didn't get out."

Fuck. "I - stayed with Elektra."

"Of course you did, you're such a fucking - " Matt gave in to Dick's hug with a slumping sigh. "Thought you were too Catholic for suicide, what was that - loophole?"

"I have so many sins to confess when I get home, I don't trust the churches here; this place is wrong in so many ways. There are so many wolves."

"Your collar had this address, that's why Selina brought you here first," Bruce said. "Alfred said it's one of Dick's from when he was a pup."

"I would have choked if I'd shifted with it on, and I couldn't feel the letters with paws. I have never worn a *collar*," he spat, showing his Cat.

"I haven't been able to contact you since the 'verses shifted again."

Matt hummed. "Our superheroes pissed off a space god and splintered a bunch of timestreams trying to fix it. Made a mess. Killed my friend."

Dick strummed his fingers through his hair. "Mental health aside, we'll make some anonymous calls to some friends that know about magic and ask some questions. Is that acceptable?"

"Stay." Cass squeezed his shoulder, pressing hard with her fingers.

"I've been to your apartment, you never told me you were a rich guy," Matt grumbled, poking him in the ribs.

"Was on the outs with the Boss back then. Come on, I had Alfred put on some fancy sheets for you."

"Gross, I'm not making out with you at your dad's house." Cass giggled at his flat statement. "I'm a lawyer with questionable impulse control, not a hormonal teenager."

"Still got some of those drugs in your system." Dick hauled him to his feet and steered him toward the hall. "Bruce - "

"I've already sent some texts. I'll let you know what I find. Door open."

"Ha," Matt grinned, leaning his full weight on Dick's support.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

It took a couple of days for Matt to recover from the tranq dart, not that Dick's family would know that. He did his best to keep Matt thoroughly debriefed and debauched, but curiosity was a Matt and a cat trait and he made sure to slip through any and all cracks left in doors and windows.

Dick found him sipping tea with Alfred on the patio, purring on Tim's shoulder in the Cave and once - playing chess with Bruce in the library and cheating him out of a bottle of vintage wine.

He never caught him with Cass, but Bruce and Tim insisted they were locked in a multi-day hide and seek challenge but had no proof that the invisible cat and super secret wolf were hunting each other for Play reasons.

Alfred solved that mystery, nodding silently toward the training room on a too-quiet afternoon. Cass was practicing her ballet and Matt was silently observing.

"Didn't know you were a ballet fan," Dick said, dropping onto the bench beside him.

"I can hear her dance. It's like she moves with the current of the air, curves with the breeze," Matt said, ticking his head in time with her fancy leap and spin.

"So you're not stalking each other?"

"She's too young to be so good at what she does," Matt replied.

"Understanding," Cass called, grinning brightly.

"Yeah, we have an understanding," Matt agreed, leaning on Dick's should. "Now hush, I'm watching."

* * *

"Matt! God - "

Foggy nearly toppled him to the floor when he reached him, hugging the air our of him. "Hey."

"Go easy on him, we don't think he had anything to do with the 'verse jump."

Karen's hands were soft, then grasping and he felt the air return to his lungs. They were okay. "What about the whole 'martyr complex'?"

"Oh, that's all him, go nuts," Dick said, shifting as he crossed his arms, easy lean against the wall. 

"Thank you for bringing him back mostly intact. He is intact, right?" Foggy turned to interrogate Dick.

"I'm fine. Better than when I landed in Gotham. You're not going to believe the shit they have going on over there," Matt said.

"There's some shit going down over here, too. We're glad you're back for a lot of reasons." Foggy reached for him again and Matt didn't mind him swinging back for a follow up hug.

"You want me to stick around for - "

"Your not-dad would kill me." He turned to his friend. "But - "

"I expect an encrypted inter-dimensional phone call in two days, exactly twenty four hours," Dick said. "And we get him for one holiday, preferably Christmas but will accept Thanksgiving - make notes of it."

"Get out of my city, Nightwing, or I'll have to chase you." His threat was muffled in the guy's chest but he got the point.

"Tease."

* * *


End file.
